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Original poster

To be horrified to learn that there are men .. TMI warning

448 replies

Doingtheboxerbeat · 02/12/2023 18:03

This is not a men bashing thread
There are actual adult men that are unaware that periods can't be controlled like other body fluids and that pads and tampons are there in case of leaks. That we can hold it in until we visit the toilet.

At first I thought bullshit, then I realised, actually how would they know unless someone specifically pointed out the difference. I can't remember ever being told this, because I started in primary school before I learned about it at school.

I discovered this from a Reddit post so probably bs that a single parent man who was probably quite poor and thought that his daughter was wasteful/ too lazy to just not wait to visit the toilet.

I have never in my life met any man that thought this, but then again, I have never asked, but then I think about how many millions of people are uneducated about things that don't really affect them.

This is batshit, right ?

OP posts:
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6
Readingineading · 02/12/2023 20:41

When I had horrendous morning sickness a male student working with us on placement loudly berated me in the staffroom for being dramatic as I was only 12 weeks pregnant and morning sickness is all in the mind. We were in a hospital, he was a medical student! The 2RGN's on shift with us put him straight.

witchypaws · 02/12/2023 20:41

My colleague who has two daughters thought women made new eggs every month

Calliopespa · 02/12/2023 20:42

charlie10k · 02/12/2023 19:54

It gets more challenging as we age...

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Can you not keep the relevant muscles exercised like pelvic floor? There’s another thread where people have been discussing older ladies not venturing out because of Covid. This thread is making me wonder if they are using Covid as a cover for flatulent incontinence. I’d feel reclusive if I really couldn’t hold farts in.

MolkosTeenageAngst · 02/12/2023 20:44

Calliopespa · 02/12/2023 20:14

Ninety percent plus I’d say yes to that too. Occasional stomach upsets might mean uncontrollable leakage.

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Well I mean that can be the same as with poo/ wee etc. People can generally hold them in but there can be accidents and there might be a limit as to how long you can hold it. Farts aren’t typically uncontrollable like a period though.

Calliopespa · 02/12/2023 20:45

Pizdietz · 02/12/2023 20:33

Encyclopaedia Britannica was my internet and convinced me of syphilis ("vaginal discharge") when my periods started, aged 13. I could not face the family, for the shame I knew I must have brought upon them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Oh that’s actually rather sweet. In a bodily functions kind of way …

Deathbyfluffy · 02/12/2023 20:45

Lucyintheskywithadiamond · 02/12/2023 18:33

I am not surprised men don’t know but I don’t expect them to know in all honesty.

Edited

Most of us know perfectly fine - I’d be amazed if any of my friends didn’t.

FreshFromTheSinBin · 02/12/2023 20:45

So much on here is odd to me.

My ex husband (now 63) only had brothers and went to an all-boys boarding school. He still managed to understand periods perfectly well.

My partner (also in his 60s) has a brother and a sister and likewise went to an all-boys boarding school. He, too, has no problems with periods and all that they entail.

I just wonder wtf young men are being told. Though I do think the internet plays a part - women post endless pictures of themselves in underwear/swimsuits, and this is bound to give men weird ideas about what being a woman actually entails.

Gcsunnyside23 · 02/12/2023 20:46

I'd definitely believe this. When I was pregnant a guy I worked with thought that my stomach was only half filled with fluid so the baby could still breathe. Everyone stared in silence before we had to ask a stream if qs on what he meant but it hit worse the more he spoke. He also thought the umbilical cord was attached to my belly button

Calliopespa · 02/12/2023 20:46

MolkosTeenageAngst · 02/12/2023 20:44

Well I mean that can be the same as with poo/ wee etc. People can generally hold them in but there can be accidents and there might be a limit as to how long you can hold it. Farts aren’t typically uncontrollable like a period though.

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Yes but read the post about aging. It seems this will all change…

RedHelenB · 02/12/2023 20:47

Sunbird24 · 02/12/2023 18:46

Remember that NASA asked if 100 tampons was the right number for a woman going into space for a week…

What would the right number be? Sounds fair enough to me, better too many.

stepintochristmas1 · 02/12/2023 20:47

witchypaws · 02/12/2023 20:41

My colleague who has two daughters thought women made new eggs every month

That is the amazing thing , we are born with all the eggs we will ever need . They just need to come to maturity . 🤯.

CommonOrNot · 02/12/2023 20:47

I believe I can top this lunacy. Ahem…

an ex of mine thought that during a period, a woman lays her unfertilised egg. Said he thought it would be around the size of a mini egg chocolate. And asked can he see it when it’s laid.

I shit you not.

MolkosTeenageAngst · 02/12/2023 20:49

Calliopespa · 02/12/2023 20:46

Yes but read the post about aging. It seems this will all change…

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Urinary and bowel continence deteriorate with age so it’s not particularly surprising that the ability to hold a fart would also disappear, but that still doesn’t mean it’s ‘normal’ in healthy, fit people.

NannyGythaOgg · 02/12/2023 20:50

Calliopespa · 02/12/2023 20:42

Can you not keep the relevant muscles exercised like pelvic floor? There’s another thread where people have been discussing older ladies not venturing out because of Covid. This thread is making me wonder if they are using Covid as a cover for flatulent incontinence. I’d feel reclusive if I really couldn’t hold farts in.

Show quote history

Did you read my post.
Suddenly one day, I just farted. Never mind being able to control it, I didn't even know it was going to happen. My body does control it, as it never happens in public - but I am not making different choices.

At home alone, I fart. No knowledge that it's about to happen, never mind being able to stop it.
In public, it doesn't happen - there is no conscious decision, IT JUST DOESN'T HAPPEN.

Grimchmas · 02/12/2023 20:50

My usually very helpful, very experienced male GP told me recently that blood clots lost during a period (i.e. chunks of womb lining tissue) were when your period has clotted like a scab before it's left your body 🙄

TempestTost · 02/12/2023 20:51

I don't think it's that uncommon for people to be mistaken about the nature of their own bodily functions, much less anyone else's.

The thing with other people is, often you don't know what you don't know, and you don't think that much about it. People have assumptions they don't even realize, they don't know where they came from.

It's not until it comes up in some context that they think about it and start to question what they understand.

Sunbird24 · 02/12/2023 20:51

RedHelenB · 02/12/2023 20:47

What would the right number be? Sounds fair enough to me, better too many.

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That’s about the right number if you’re presuming she had a 7 day period and changed tampons roughly every hour and a half!

ThomasinaLivesHere · 02/12/2023 20:52

enchantedsquirrelwood · 02/12/2023 20:28

No you can't. You can make it come out quietly but it still comes out.

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I’m not sure if you’re being serious but people can hold in farts. Obviously you need to eventually fart like you need to eventually urinate but you can hold it in until a later time.

TempestTost · 02/12/2023 20:52

NannyGythaOgg · 02/12/2023 20:50

Did you read my post.
Suddenly one day, I just farted. Never mind being able to control it, I didn't even know it was going to happen. My body does control it, as it never happens in public - but I am not making different choices.

At home alone, I fart. No knowledge that it's about to happen, never mind being able to stop it.
In public, it doesn't happen - there is no conscious decision, IT JUST DOESN'T HAPPEN.

Edited
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I wonder if this is related to the fact that many people don't have the urge to poop when they are outside their home?

BigFatLiar · 02/12/2023 20:52

Never underestimate how odd people can be. For some it's just things they never knew and for others it's just being thick. There are still people who believe the earths flat, that dinosaurs didn't exist, all sorts of wierd things.

TomatoSandwiches · 02/12/2023 20:53

@NannyGythaOgg
" Suddenly one day, I just farted. "

I will write a book one day and it will start with this sentence. 😂

stepintochristmas1 · 02/12/2023 20:53

Gcsunnyside23 · 02/12/2023 20:46

I'd definitely believe this. When I was pregnant a guy I worked with thought that my stomach was only half filled with fluid so the baby could still breathe. Everyone stared in silence before we had to ask a stream if qs on what he meant but it hit worse the more he spoke. He also thought the umbilical cord was attached to my belly button

To be honest most people don't know a great deal about pregnancy until it's in their life .

tothelefttotheleft · 02/12/2023 20:54

Grimchmas · 02/12/2023 20:50

My usually very helpful, very experienced male GP told me recently that blood clots lost during a period (i.e. chunks of womb lining tissue) were when your period has clotted like a scab before it's left your body 🙄

Edited

Did you correct him?

NannyGythaOgg · 02/12/2023 20:54

ThomasinaLivesHere · 02/12/2023 20:52

I’m not sure if you’re being serious but people can hold in farts. Obviously you need to eventually fart like you need to eventually urinate but you can hold it in until a later time.

Show quote history

Nope.
Some can, some can't/

I used to be able to. Now, not even a warning, I am just farting.

Can't you understand that people are different - and at different life stages. Just because you can DOES NOT MEAN that everyone can.

Elfontheshmelf · 02/12/2023 20:55

HellInABasket · 02/12/2023 19:20

the problem with ignorance is that you aren't aware of it until you encounter it.

most people hang round with people of a similar educational and professional and social level as themself.

so if you are a dr and all your friends are drs, lawyers and accountants then you won't regularly come across people who are very ignorant on basic stuff because it won't come up in conversation with other you encounter. LIke you aren't going to discuss periods with an 18 yr old boy working on the tills.

people who are uneducated and often linked with poverty will be very ignorant of stuff like this - I think it is very common for example for men to think urine and periods and babies all come out of one hole - but also other things that are shocking - think of Jade Goody thinking East Anglia was abroad and some one asking George Galloway if the house of commons was teh one with the green seats. if you know you think everyone knows but plenty of people will not know and not care who Rishi Sunak or Kier Stamer are or where Paris is or where your liver is or anything about stuff to do with the opposite sex biologically.

I don't think it's 100% true that educated people wouldn't be ignorant compared to others. It's been mentioned on this thread that men might not know anything if they went to an all boys boarding school and if parents were too prude to talk about periods, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are some really posh well educated men out there who believe you can hold it in.

I have a seven year old son and have now made a mental note to include the fact you can't hold it in when we have the talk!